Quote:
Originally Posted by Ferd
This is a flat out lie.
I suspect you are simply repeating something you got in an email from somewhere, (I get junk like that from Democrats.com on a regular basis)
the FACT is, under Bill Clinton there was a rule change that prevented the CIA and FBI from communicating. That blocked information that the CIA had on some of the 9/11 hijackers from reaching the FBI.
When the Bush admin changed that rule in the wake of 9/11, dems still cried about it.
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President Clinton led the fight against terrorism over strong opposition from Republicans in Congress and the pro-Republican Media. Here's a long list of accomplishments against terrorism for which the Clinton Administration gets almost no credit, in contrast to the record of the Bush administration.
After the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, which killed six and injured 1,000, in the first year of his administration, President Clinton promised that those responsible would be hunted down and punished.
The perpetrators of the 1993 WTC bombing were caught and punished. The blind Mullah ring-leader was already in jail, and was retried for the attack. His helpers were caught and tried, and they were sentenced to life in prison. That's called decisive action, as opposed to Republican hot air.
After the first 1995 bombing in Saudi Arabia, which killed five U.S. military personel; Clinton promised that those responsible would be hunted down and punished.
After the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia, which killed 19 and injured 200 U.S. military personnel; Clinton promised that those responsible would be hunted down and punished.
The perpretrators of the bombings in Saudi Arabia were caught, most likely with CIA help. Saudi Arabia had them beheaded.
In 1996 President Clinton pushed hard for anti-terrorism legislation and the Republican controlled Congress pushed just as hard to frustrate his efforts. See CNN.com/US/9607/30/clinton.terrorism/
After the 1998 bombing of U.S. embassies in Africa, which killed 224 and injured 5,000; Clinton promised that those responsible would be hunted down and punished.
The perpretrators of the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings were captured, and are now in jail for life.
Also, when President Clinton learned that Osam Bin Laden was having a top-level Al Qaeda leadership meeting in Afghanistan he ordered the site bombed and came very close to preventing the bombing of the World Trade Centers on 9/11/2001. And the response of the Republican leadership and the entire mainstream media was: "Bill Clinton, don't you dare try to "wag the dog", and distract us with all this nonsense about some far away terrorist! What America needs to attend to is the stain on Monica Lewinsky's dress."
There were several known terrorist attempts were thwarted un Bill Clinton's watch:
# an attempt to blow up the Holland Tunnel,
# an attempt to blow up the Lincoln Tunnel,
# an attempt on the life of the Pope,
# an attempt to blow up the L.A.X airport.
# Two attempts over the Millennium weekend to plant bombs in cites in the Northeast and the Northwest of the United States.
Also consider the following…
The Clinton administration sent legislation to Congress to tighten airport security. (Remember, this is before 911) The legislation was defeated by the Republicans because of opposition from the airlines.
The Clinton administration sent legislation to Congress to allow for better tracking of terrorist funding. It was defeated by Republicans in the Senate because of opposition from banking interests.
The Clinton administration sent legislation to Congress to add tagents to explosives, to allow for better tracking of explosives used by terrorists. It was defeated by the Republicans because of opposition from the NRA. When Republicans couldn't prevent executive action, President Clinton:
Developed the nation's first anti-terrorism policy, and appointed first national coordinator.
- Stopped cold the planned attack to blow up 12 U.S. jetliners simultaneously.
- Stopped cold the planned attack to blow up UN Headquarters.
- Stopped cold the planned attack to blow up FBI Headquarters.
- Stopped cold the planned attack to blow up the Israeli Embassy in Washington.
- Stopped cold the planned attack to blow up Boston airport.
- Stopped cold the planned attack to blow up Lincoln and Holland Tunnels in NY.
- Stopped cold the planned attack to blow up the George Washington Bridge.
- Stopped cold the planned attack to blow up the US Embassy in Albania.
The first serious terror threat on our soil during the Bush’s Presidency left us with over 3,000 Americans dead.
Tried to kill Osama bin Laden and disrupt Al Qaeda through preemptive strikes (efforts denounced by the G.O.P.).
Brought perpetrators of first World Trade Center bombing and CIA killings to justice.
Did not blame Bush I administration for first World Trade Center bombing even though it occurred 38 days after they had left office. Instead, worked hard, even obsessively -- and successfully -- to stop future terrorist attacks.
Named the Hart-Rudman commission to report on nature of terrorist threats and major steps to be taken to combat terrorism.
Tripled the budget of the FBI for counterterrorism and doubled overall funding for counterterrorism.
Detected and destroyed cells of Al Qaeda in over 20 countries
Created a national stockpile of drugs and vaccines including 40 million doses of smallpox vaccine.
Robert Oakley, Reagan Counterterrorism Czar says of Clinton's efforts "Overall, I give them very high marks" and "The only major criticism I have is the obsession with Osama"
Paul Bremer, Bush's Administrator of Iraq disagrees slightly with Robert Oakley saying he believed the Clinton Administration had "correctly focused on bin Laden. "
Barton Gellman of the Washington Post put it best, "By any measure available, Clinton left office having given greater priority to terrorism than any president before him" and was the "first administration to undertake a systematic anti-terrorist effort."
I'm not a HUGE Clinton fan, but compared to Bush...well...I'll leave that one alone. lol
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